Brand Strategy
Creative Direction
Ideation
Design
Copywriting
We couldn’t have been more honored when, after three seasons of defining creative work for the brand, Crystal’s VP of sales and marketing, the late and extremely accomplished Adam Sutner, selected Voicebox to name the resort’s new base lodge and generate a full-fledged campaign playbook to bring its story and significance to their ski community.
To strike naming gold, we went into deep discovery using our intimate knowledge of the Crystal brand identity we’d created, as well as our understanding of the PNW ski resort market, having worked with nearly every local resort. We developed four potential naming directions, wrapping each one in a high-level creative framework that told a larger story of the lodge’s meaning in the context of the current state of the ski community in the Pacific Northwest.
The final name became the Mountain Commons, a tie to the radical concept in 1970s architectural design—the idea that this was the people’s lodge. A perfect encapsulation of Crystal’s brand and thinking, the name led Crystal President Frank DeBerry to proudly express during our reveal to stakeholders of Crystal’s senior team: “This has made me think about the lodge in an entirely different way.”
The idea of the commons as a valued and finite resource for community good traces its linear roots to nineteenth century economics. Then, in the 1960’s—when Crystal was founded by a group of diehard skiers uplifted by this majestic mountain valley—the global concept took on a more grassroots feel. Urban planners and big thinkers adopted the concept as a rallying cry to preserve and protect resources we all treasured. Since then Nobel Laureates have proven that strong, likeminded communities can unify in the spirit of a greater vision to both preserve and utilize their treasured resources.
As PNW skiers and riders at heart, we feel deeply that our mountain not only holds incredible power but intense personal meaning. It’s our mountain, whether we’ve been skiing here since way back when or just discovered the refuge these peaks, lines and trees provide. It’s our space, our community and, to many, our identity. Tapping this truth, we honor the heart and soul of our diverse mountain community by dedicating the spirit of our new lodge to the radical idea of a mountain base lodge as an open and inviting community space, with access for all. Without our community, its roots, its character and its vision—Crystal would be just another ski area.
Crystal runs deep in community and character. It’s a feeling and a state of mind. For the new base area lodge, we aim to develop a name that truly embodies Crystal’s spirit; a name that encapsulates its extraoridnary community, progressive character and hardcore PNW culture. This name will inspire new-to-Seattle skiers and local pride alike. The name will evoke the terrain’s expansive and striking beauty. The magic you feel when you’re fully, freely and wildy immersed in it, whatever your pursuit.